Documentation Quiz

What kind of documentation system are we using to cite our sources?
In This system there are two parts, one is in text? For a web source list the info the you have to include?
1) MLA format
2) parenthetical citations
3) author and/or editors name, name of the databases, , or title of the project, book, or article. Any version numbers available. Date of version revision, publisher info. Date you accessed, Web  (no URL)

Prewriting essay 2

The idea that Chinese Mothers are Superior is one that is lacking full support. Although Statistically Chinese students do have a high success rate, when do the parents stop and ask what their children feel about the whole ordeal? What other hobbies or interests do they wish to follow that the parents are not assigning them? How can you measure the parenting style and success rate of all "Chinese Mothers? Can you take into account the success rate/ happiness of the children of "western parents" when compared to those of "Chinese mothers"?
"In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said that stressing academic success is not good for the children, by contrast roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way."
It is clear that Chinese and Western mothers view their children's academic success quite differently for the most part. For Chinese mothers getting straight A's is not something to strive for it is simply how it must be. This is compared to a common Western parent praising their child for getting a B on a paper.

Reflection 1.2

I have learned a great deal about writing since I have been in this class. One thing mainly that I have improved the greatest on is analyzing other pieces of writing. This has been done through the notes we have taken being applied to the articles we have been told to read and analize. Something I wish to work on in my next draft is putting all pieces of the assignment the 1st draft. This is instead of having to go back to the assignment and checking if I have gotten all pieces incorporated into my 2nd draft. By then it is too late and I have no more chances to get my draft revised again.

Essay 1.2: A Missing Bullet: A Rhetorical Analysis of “Government should create stricter gun laws”

Dan Sheldon

Professor Henderson

Academic Writing 1

February 18, 2011

A Missing Bullet: A Rhetorical Analysis of “Government should create stricter gun laws”

The article “Government Should Create Stricter Gun Laws” written by Megan Weintraut is a thought provoking piece that discusses the major controversy of having stricter gun laws in the United States.  It appeared in the Ithacan, Ithaca College’s newspaper on January 26, 2011. Weintraut clearly has a passionate interest in the subject. She adamantly discusses her view on the gun laws, which is directed toward anyone who is willing to read the well written article. Overall Weintraut has, for the most part, done an effective job at getting her claim across. However her lack of credibility toward discussing the subject does bring a relative weakness into the potency of her article. 

Weintraut discusses her own opinion on gun laws in a credible and scientific way. She uses numbers and percents to layout the basis of the article. Through these numbers and statistics she states the facts that are necessary to get her points across to the average reader. An example of this is when she states “in 2006 alone, firearms were involved in 68 percent of murders, and more than 90 percent of today’s gang-related homicides involved guns” (par. 3). The logic she uses makes it virtually impossible to argue the opposing side. She argues a point that most Americans can follow and understand. She writes in a way that makes it appear as if there is no other side and it is obvious that her point is correct. Using the numbers and percentages makes it seem as if everything she is saying is strictly fact. It is because of the facts that she implements that make it so clear that gun laws need a change. This is why the author has used the element of LOGOS (reasoning) effectively.

Weintraut is a very persuasive writer; however her lack of personal experience and education of the matter hinder her qualifications as to the topic that she chose to write about. Weintraut is a Senior Mathematics major at Ithaca College. This is clearly not a powerful credibility to discuss the controversy of gun laws in America. Although throughout the article she does state specific national crises and sources that are credible and can appeal to the general public that has an interest in such matters. Examples of these national crises that are mentioned are the Columbine High school, Virginia Tech, and Arizona shootings (par. 5). Even though most of her sources are credible she does use certain sources such as Chris Rock (par. 7), a well known comedian to further explain her point. It is obvious that although Chris rock may be funny he is not a reliable source to the matter of stricter gun laws. In no way can his quote be backed up by any facts or statistical information. So it is evident that the author may not be the most qualified candidate to discuss the government’s restriction of gun law. Being a mathematician major has absolutely no vigor in the credibility towards the matter of restricting gun laws. On top of this her lack of personal experience in the matter does not help to influence her credibility to gun laws. Overall the author indirectly presents herself as being a very weak source of credibility (ETHOS) for the topic she writes about. In these ways the missing element of ETHOS is a key portion to the credibility of her article.

Weintraut does an excellent job of reaching the common people through emotional understanding. The matter of stricter gun laws is a very controversial topic which reaches the heart of many Americans. By stating specific national disasters such as the most recent Arizona shooting (par. 5) she touches the hearts of people around the country. It is also an easy topic to talk about since many parents in the United States feel that their children’s safety can be threatened by gun use. Weintraut also discusses the ways in which today’s youth are being effected from the exposure of violence in the media. As stated by the author “The popular video game Grand Theft Auto rewards players for murdering law enforcement. Through such an overdose of irresponsible violence in the media, Today’s youth are becoming desensitized to the dangers of guns” (par. 4). Weintraut effectively presents the point that violent media is greatly impacting the minds of youth today. In this sense, Weintraut has done a sufficient job in incorporating PATHOS (emotion) into her article.

Throughout the article the author uses reliable resources such as The American journal of public health that the readers feel reassured that the article is indeed true and that gun laws need to be changed. It also through quoting the famous comedian Chris Rock, readers are able to feel a closer, more personal connection to the topic. The quote she used being “everybody is talking about gun control… I think we need some bullet control!.. If a bullet costs $5,000, there’d be no more innocent bystanders” (par. 7). Even though the thought of Chris Rock saying this may bring some chuckles, her usage of the quote is relevant to the topic. In this way as well what has been said above the author uses PATHOS (emotion) into the article.

                To conclude the author Megan Weintraut makes some hearty, good points that will leave her readers with a different view on the government’s restriction of gun laws. Seemingly she has gotten her point across as was the whole initiative of the article. Her use of LOGOS, ETHOS, and PATHOS for the most part can be used to back her view up.

Works Cited:
The Ithacan, Ithaca College Writing lab, 2011,http://theithacan.org/8438,  February 6, 2011

College free write

I thought the article "why college matters" had a stronger base to it. It was also more exciting to read than the other article "what's the matter with college". His points on why he thinks campus does not attend attention anymore does have some truth to it. Travis weinger does a great job analyzing the way Perlstein describes his college experiance versus that of today's students.

Prewriting Essay 1

Dan Sheldon

Professor Henderson

Academic Writing 1

February 9, 2011

The article “Government Should Create Stricter Gun Laws” written by “Megan Weintraut” is a well written article that discusses the major controversy of having stricter gun laws in the United States.  Although this article is well written it seems to lack certain parts of the three main elements of written articles LOGOS, ETHOS and PATHOS.  Without these three elements an article could be well written but ultimately end up being pointless and wrong.

The author of “Government Should Create Stricter Gun Laws” “Megan Weintraut” discusses her own opinion on gun laws in a credible and scientific way. She uses numbers and percents to layout the basis of the article.  Through these numbers and statistics she states the facts that are necessary to get her points across to the average reader.  The logic she uses makes it virtually impossible to argue the opposing side. She argues a point that most Americans can follow and understand. She writes in a way that makes it appear as if there is no other side and it is obvious that her point is correct. Using the numbers and percentages makes it seem as if everything she is saying is strictly fact. On top of this the vocabulary she uses clearly shows that she is an educated writer, although it is not too complex to the point where it is difficult to understand. It is because of the facts that she implements that make it so clear that gun laws need a change. This is why the author has used the element of LOGOS (reasoning) effectively.

The author Megan Weintraut is a very persuasive writer, however her lack of personal experience and education of the matter hinder her qualifications as to the topic that she chose to write about. Megan Weintraut is a Senior Mathematics major at Ithaca College. This is clearly not a powerful credibility to discuss the controversy of gun laws in America. Although throughout the article she does state specific national crisis’s and sources that are credible and can appeal to the general public that has an interest in such matters. Even though most of her sources are credible she does use certain sources such as Chris Rock, a well known comedian to further explain her point. It is obvious that although Chris rock may be funny he is not a reliable source to the matter of stricter gun laws. In no way can his quote be backed up by any facts or statistical information. So it is evident that the author may not be the most qualified candidate to discuss the government’s restriction of gun law. Being a mathematician major has absolutely no girth in the credibility towards the matter of restricting gun laws. On top of this her lack of personal experience in the matter does not help to influence her credibility to gun laws. Overall the author has a very weak element of ETHOS (credibility) towards the dilemma in which she bases her article on. In these ways the element of ETHOS is a key chunk to the credibility of her article.

The author Megan Weintraut does an excellent job of reaching the common people through emotional understanding. The matter of stricter gun laws is a very controversial topic which reaches the heart of many Americans. By stating specific national disasters such as the most recent Arizona shooting she touches the hearts of people around the country. It is also an easy topic to talk about since many parents in the United States feel that their children’s safety can be threatened by gun use. As stated by the author America’s youth is becoming desensitized of the violence of gun use by video violent games such as Grand Theft Auto. It is because of video games like this that America’s youth have gotten the notion that use the use of guns are “cool” instead of realizing the true potential danger that guns hold.

Throughout the article the author uses reliable resources such as The American journal of public health that the readers feel reassured that the article is indeed true and that gun laws need to be changed. It also through quoting the famous comedian Chris Rock, readers are able to feel a closer, more personal connection to the topic. The quote she used being “everybody is talking about gun control… I think we need some bullet control!.. If a bullet costs 5,000$, there’d be no more innocent bystanders.” Even though the thought of Chris Rock saying this may bring some chuckles, her usage of the quote is relevant to the topic. In this way as well what has been said above the author uses PATHOS (emotion) into the article.

                To conclude the author Megan Weintraut makes some hearty, good points that will leave her readers with a different view on the government’s restriction of gun laws. Seemingly she has gotten her point across as was the whole initiative of the article. Her use of LOGOS, ETHOS, and PATHOS for the most part can be used to back her view up.